“When they got out on the beach, they saw a charcoal fire ready with a fish placed on it, and bread. Jesus said, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just now caught.’ So Simon Peter went aboard and pulled the net to shore. It was full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three, but although there were so many, the net was not torn. ‘Come, have breakfast,’ Jesus said. But none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.” —John 21:9–14
Remembering that His disciples are but mere humans—weary and exhausted from their night of fishing—our Lord mercifully and compassionately provides a meal for them by the seashore. And by doing so, Jesus is showing His working disciples that He cares for their bodies as well as their souls. How comforting! Wet and cold, weary and hungry, the Lord supplies fire to warm and dry them, and food to feed and fill them. Jesus is the supplier of all our needs! In Him is the sufficiency for life, both present and eternal. The Psalmist proclaims:
“For the LORD God is our sovereign protector; the LORD bestows favor and honor; he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, how blessed are those who trusts in you.” —Psalm 84:11–12
Nothing smells better when one arises in the morning than the smell of breakfast—coffee brewing, bacon frying, biscuits rising. Surely the disciples were wide-eyed and appreciative over this labor of love. King David’s words of Psalm 103 come to mind:
“Praise the LORD, O my soul! With all that is within me, praise his holy name! Praise the LORD, O my soul! Do not forget all his kind deeds! He is the one who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases, who delivers your life from the Pit, who crowns you with his loyal love and compassion, who satisfies your life with good things, so your youth is renewed like an eagle’s … As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on his faithful followers; for he knows what we are made of, he realizes that we are made of clay.” —Psalm 103:1–5, 13–14
Christ tells His friends to bring to the shore the fish they have just caught. He wants them to eat of the labor of their hands. Whatever we have gained through God’s blessing upon our industry and honest labor has a particular sweetness to it, and Christ here desires for them to taste the reward of their miraculous catch. I believe the Lord also wanted to show His disciples that the secret to a successful life will be for them to work according to His command and to act with implicit obedience to His word. It was as if Jesus told them to look into the net to see for themselves how profitable it was for them to do what He said.
Finally, Jesus invites his disciples to join Him! Treating them as friends, He invites them to His table. No one needs to ask about who he is, they fully understand. There seems to be no doubt, only awe.
“To sit, and eat, and drink, in the company with one who had risen from the dead, and appeared and disappeared after a supernatural manner, was no light thing. Who can wonder that they felt awed?” —John Charles Ryle
Our Lord serves as the Master of the feast offering bread and fish. He shows Himself alive and having a true body by eating and drinking with His disciples:
“We are witnesses of all things he did in both Judea and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him up on the third day and caused him to be seen. Not seen by all the people, but by us, the witnesses God had already chosen–who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” —Acts 10:39–41
Become More
“God is continually drawing us to Himself in everything we experience.” —Gerard Hughes
Further Reflection
“God’s blessings at times came to us through our labors and at times without our labors, but never because of our labors.” —Martin Luther, emphasis added